


Outside of Pallet Town

by Irondil



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Kantou-chihou | Kanto Region (Pokemon), Mewtwo - Freeform, Pokemon, Pokemon Journey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24805594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irondil/pseuds/Irondil
Summary: On the southern coast lies Pallet, a quiet village where nothing important ever happens. Mrs. Red, realizing that this environment will never be what her shy and sheltered son needs to come out of his shell, convinces the local Pokémon researcher to set Matthew up with a partner, and sends him out to join the Pokémon League. But the League will not be all that will challenge Matt.
Kudos: 7





	1. Fire

The day had been long, hot, and tiring. But then, that seemed to be the case for just about every day the past few years. He was easier to tire due to his age, yes, there was no argument there. But regardless of what anyone else said, it was hotter on the island than it used to be. This was not only in his imagination. It was the thirty-first of August, the dying days of summer, but this was not summer heat.  
  
“Good evening, boss!” Derek cried as Blaine stepped through the automatic glass doors of the gym. The older man wiped the sweat from the top of his balding head with the towel the younger handed to him. “Been a boring day around here. Not even a single challenger!”  
  
Blaine twitched his smokey mustache as he looked at the boy. “No, I guessed that.” If there had been a challenger, the gym leader would have been informed immediately. He had been left alone for the entire day. “What are you still doing here? It’s nearly nine o’clock.”  
  
Derek kicked at the ground, not able to look up into Blaine’s eyes. Something was troubling the boy. He was never normally like this. Being an inquisitive youth, a graduate of the great Viridian University, Derek never hesitated to ask a question that could further his understanding of something. What was his problem now? “Yes, I know that, boss. It’s just... Well, you’ve been spending so much time in that old mansion lately, and—”  
  
“Derek, what do my boots, ideas, and mustache all have in common?” asked the gym leader calmly.  
  
“Boss?”  
“Do you have an answer?”  
  
“Is it… no… No, I haven’t a clue,” said Derek.  
  
And they call him a super nerd, Blaine thought to himself. “It so happens that my boots, ideas, and my mustache all belong to me. Just like that old mansion. When my cousin died she left it to me. And by law, I have the right to do with it whatever I like.”  
  
Derek said nothing for a moment, his eyes still glued to the rubber-tiled gym floor. He opened his mouth a few times, a dry smacking noise coming out with each attempted word as he tried to convey what he wanted to say. “Yes, I know that, boss! I’m not saying you can’t. It’s just that people are starting to talk. They’re saying they think you’re… doing things. And not good things, from what I’ve heard.”  
  
The mustache twitched. What could they know? Hadn’t they been extra careful? Hadn’t the extra security been enough to keep out the nosey hicks of this Moltres-forsaken town? Blaine smiled. “And where did you hear this from? The clerk in the mart? Wasn’t he the one that said he saw someone surfing on a giant victreebel?”  
  
Derek closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then seemed to sturdy himself. “What’s a mew?”  
  
A cold flame took hold of Blaine’s heart. His entire body stiffened and would not move, all but for his smoke-white mustache. That word. Why would he ask Blaine about that word? It was just a coincidence, surely? Yes, that was it. Or perhaps Blaine had only misheard, expecting Derek to ask about this unknowable thing. “Meowth? Don’t play jokes, boy. You saw a meowth just last week! Cream-colored things with a charm atop their head. Cat-like. You know what cats are, right?”  
  
“Boss, my mother has six meowths at home. I asked you what me—”  
  
“I don’t have time for more questions, Derek,” Blaine cut him off. There was no way Derek knew anything about that secret. There was no way that clerk knew anything either! But then, almost everyone that lived on the island, as well as those passing through, visited the mart for their everyday needs. Maybe he had heard something… No! Impossible. No one under his employ would have spoken to that man about the project. “Why don’t you get on home then? Tomorrow I expect my tier four team taken out and given proper exercise. Charmeleon is getting a little chubby.”  
  
Derek did not move for a moment. He lingered, staring into the dark sunglasses that the gym leader had yet to take off after entering the building. But eventually, he sighed and left, though Blaine knew that the young man was not satisfied and would ask the next chance he got.  
  
“Mew,” Blaine whispered to no one. Someone had leaked, he now forced himself to realize. The clerk had heard about their secret, and like everything else the man saw, gossiped about it. Someone had told about their discovery in South America. How much did they expose? How many people knew? Who did it? Did they know about the other one? “No.” The only people that knew about that one were Fuji and himself, and it had been a month since that old man left. If he had spread the news on Cinnabar then this would have gotten to the gym leader much sooner.  
  
“Still…” Blaine grasped one of the metallic spheres in his pocket and pulled it out. He looked down at the red and white ball. It was no bigger than a golf ball, but when Blaine pushed the button in the center, it enlarged to nearly thrice the original size. “Magmar, I need you to watch the gym tonight,” he said to the ball. The sphere opened like a hinged capsule, expelling a brilliant multicolored light. The light fell to the floor a few feet from the man and materialized into a four-foot-tall yellow duck-like creature. Magmar swished its tail, sending a shower of sparks across the fire-proof floor.  
  
“Gwak gwak!” Magmar cried.  
  
“I need you to wake me the moment you sense something… different. Wrong. I don’t know what it could be, but you’ll know it if it happens. Do you understand?”  
  
“Gwak!” his magmar nodded excitedly.  
  
Blaine smiled at the pokémon and made his way to the stiflingly hot attic of the Cinnabar gym where he had lived for nearly thirty years.

  
  
  


He was awake before the fire-type called for him from below. Blaine threw his lab coat over his nightshirt and pants and sped down the attic stairs to find Magmar in a panic. It was running in circles, crying out for him and showering the entire room with white-hot sparks. Magmar had never been his most stable pokémon, but when given a job it always tried its hardest to succeed. “Return!” he said, holding out the same poké ball he had used the night before. The ball opened, this time releasing a red light that enveloped Magmar, turning it into the same red energy, and Magmar was pulled back inside.  
  
Blaine burst through the doors of the gym, terrified yet certain that he knew what had happened. That sound that had woken him from his sleep could only have come from one place. An explosion of that strength did not come from an ordinary pokémon battle. He cursed himself for not going back the moment Derek had mentioned Mew.  
  
People were stumbling out of their houses now, looking in the direction of Blaine’s great fear. A little girl pointed directly at the mansion, and at the swirling mass of smoke that billowed from one of its windows. And then another family turned away from the smoke, pointing behind Blaine to the source of a new noise.  
  
Still running, Blaine turned his head to see what else could be so interesting to tare their attention away from the explosion. His heart sank. If it had not been for the sound of their blades he would not have noticed the three helicopters flying towards him through the night air. They were a deep black, nearly invisible in the darkness. As they passed him he could make out, painted in a sanguine red on the passenger door, a great letter “R”.  
  
“Mew!” Blaine cried.


	2. A Chance of a Lifetime

His feet kicked unconsciously in the water as Matthew looked out over the early morning sea, watching everything around him. Small fishing boats were being readied to start their day. The docks of Pallet Town were never all that busy this time of year, which made them the perfect place for someone like him to whittle their time away. All he could hope was that no one noticed him sitting there.  
  
Far out in the water he saw something shiny and white jump out from the shimmering surface, flip, and then plunge back below. Excitedly, he scanned the horizon for it, but it never reappeared. It had looked like a seel, something not too common in the area. Mostly what Matthew saw in the waters around his home town were tentacool and magikarp, so it was nice to see such a different sight.  
  
One of the fishermen from down the docks shouted something and Matthew nearly fell off into the water beneath him from the shock. But the man hadn’t been calling to Matt. The boy settled himself back down and returned to watching the world move around him. Maybe tomorrow he would hide around the start of Route 1 instead of the docks. People almost never traveled that way. If they were going to leave town, it was usually by boat.  
  
“Hello there,” said a voice from behind. Matt jumped again, this time managing to stay firm on the dock, but just barely. He slowly turned his head to see a dark-haired man with glasses wearing a clean-white labcoat. Was he speaking to Matt? He seemed to be looking right at him. “You wouldn’t happen to be Mr. Red, now would you?”  
  
“M-me?” asked Matthew. Why would someone call him mister? “Y-yes.”  
  
“Ah, splendid! Your mother did say you might be down here,” the man said, looking around at the nearly empty view. Most of the fishermen had left by now with only two boats still tied up. “Well, you’d better be on home, Mr. Red! Your mother has something very important to tell you!”  
  
“My mom? Who are y-you?”  
  
“I am no one of importance,” said the man. “Just someone with a job to do. And apparently, my job now involves you! Now, now, get a move on! You don’t want to be late!”  
  
“Late? Late f-for what?” Matthew asked, but the man was already walking back into town and either did not hear his calls, or did not care to answer. Matt stood now on the aged, algae stained planks of wood, looking down at the seafloor below. A twinkle of red light flashed as a tentacool jetted away from something he could not see.  
  
What had that all been about? Matthew had come to the docks to get away from people, and he did this quite often. While once and awhile someone would greet him or ask what he was doing, no one had ever expected him to be there. No one had ever known who he was. Why had his mother told this man where he would be? I’ll be late? he thought to himself. Although he was in no real hurry to see what it was this man wanted, he hated the thought of being late for something. If he was late he’d be in trouble, regardless if he knew what it was about. And trouble meant having to explain himself, maybe to someone he did not know.  
  
Reluctantly, he made his way home, trying his best to not meet the eyes of the other people walking down the dirt roads on their ways to work. Sometimes he had no option but to nod and smile at them if they said something to him. It was always best to be polite even if it made his stomach tighten and his heart pulse. But he didn’t mind it as much if the intruder had a pokémon with them since more often than not he would be allowed to pet it. One person’s meowth let Matt rub its stomach for a few minutes before they needed to move on.  
  
Pallet was not Matthew’s favorite place in the world, despite it being one of the only places he had ever been. It was a small town, which meant that people were generally friendly and had no issue talking to a stranger they met on the side of the road. Matt hated this. He wished his mother would decide to move somewhere like Viridian where people were too busy to even say “hi”, or out in the middle of nowhere where the closest person would be an hour away. But that was never going to happen.  
  
When he was walking past his neighbor’s house a commotion from within stopped him. Normally Matthew did not like to eavesdrop, but this was different. The voice coming from inside the house was Kayne Green’s, someone Matt had known his entire life. Someone he had once considered a friend. It was difficult to make out just what Kayne was saying due to what could only be excitement in his voice. But when it became clear that the sound was getting nearer to him, Matt sprinted away. Behind him, he heard the Greens’ door open, and Kayne shout gleefully before running in the opposite direction of Matt.  
  
Thankful that he did not have to speak to Kayne today on top of that stranger from the docks, Matthew made his way to his own front door. Pausing briefly, he began opening the door ever-so-slowly. The man had said he had spoken to Matt’s mother, did that mean he had visited their house? Did he return after fetching Matt? He peered inside through the crack between the door and wall but saw no one but his mother sitting quietly watching television.  
  
“Mom?” Matt called as he stepped into their living room.  
  
“Oh! Matthew! Good, you’re finally home! Camphor found you then?” she asked, but when Matthew could do nothing but look puzzled she continued. “Well, I’ve already got everything packed for you. Been planning this for some time, you know. Had to be done.”  
  
“Packed? Mom, what are you even talking about?” Mrs. Red had the same light-brown hair as her son, but long and straight instead of short-cut and curly. Her almond-shaped eyes were a dark gray, just like Matt’s, but now were reddened around the edges. “Is something wrong?”  
  
“You’re eleven now,” she said, her eyes tearing up. The crying that she had obviously been doing before Matt returned home had apparently only receded for a moment. “And you know that eleven-year-olds are given a special chance to… to…” Her attention was drawn to the scene playing out on the T.V. Matt turned to look, seeing a large purple-pink pokémon charge through what looked like a dark violet shadow, coming out the other side and slamming into a concrete wall.  
  
“Oh! And the attack has no effect!” cried someone from the T.V. Matthew quickly realized that this was some important battle, possibly a League match. “Let’s all hope that Nidorino starts listening to its master’s commands! Horn Attack will be useless against Agatha!”  
  
“Why bring something that isn’t going to obey your commands?” Mrs. Red said, shaking her head. “Oh well. You’d never make such a mistake, right? No, of course my Matthew wouldn’t.”  
  
“Mom? Just what are you going on about?” he asked, looking behind her to a fully stuffed backpack that he had never seen before.” What is that?”  
  
“Everything you’ll need,” she answered.  
  
“Everything I’ll need? For what? Mom, what are you saying? Some guy down at the docks just told me to come home to you. You’ve got a backpack full of stuff I’ll need apparently. And you’re crying! Something’s wrong! Tell me!”  
  
“You’re eleven. That’s what I’m on about. You know that when a child turns eleven they are given the option to a full year off of school. They are given the chance of a lifetime.”  
  
“School? School doesn’t start for another month, so why are we talking about it?”  
  
“Because,” she said with a sob. “You won’t be going back to school. You’re going to do something that I was never able to do. Today you’re going to begin following after your father. Matthew, you get to be a pokémon trainer.”  
  
“Tr-trainer? Are you serious?” A dozen different emotions filled Matt’s entire body. Going out on a journey of his own, joining the League, and doing what his father had done before him had been Matt’s dream since he was very little. But now he realized just what all that entailed. It wasn’t just battling, catching, and traveling. It was having to go out to challenge people, meeting strangers just about everywhere he went. How was he going to do that? “Wh-why?”  
  
“Because I’ve tried just about everything I could, Matt. No matter what I do, you refuse to make friends. You won’t even talk to Kayne anymore!”  
  
Yes, but that part has nothing to do with me being shy, Matt thought to himself. The rest she had been right about, however. Matthew hadn’t been able to make a real friend since he was five. And whatever his mother might think, he did truly want to make friends, but just couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried, he could barely hold a conversation with anyone but his mother. “But I can change! I talked to that man today at the docks!” he said, knowing that this was an outright lie. If he could change, it would’ve happened already.  
  
“Camphor spoke to you. You didn’t approach him. Now,” she said, thrusting the pack into his arms. “I love you dearly, Matthew. But this is the only way.” Gently, she placed his old ball cap atop his head and opened the front door. “If you ever need a place to rest, you know you can stay the night. But not all the time. Camphor should have told the professor that he sent you home by now, so things ought to be ready for you.”  
“Professor? Professor Oak?”  
  
“Yes. That’s where you need to go. I’m locking the door for now. I won’t allow you to weedle out of this, Matt. You need to do this.” Mrs. Red closed the door, and Matt heard the sickening clunk behind it.  
  
He wanted to cry. He wanted to curl into a ball and never move again. Of the few times he had ever been outside of Pallet Town, his mother had been right there with him. And now she was forcing him to leave her. Why? Why would she do this? Did she really think that sending him off on his own would be good for him? How could it when all he would end up doing is hiding himself away in some forest or cave, probably for the rest of his life. He would get lost. He knew himself far too well.  
  
A flock of pidgeys flying overhead caught his attention, their coos filling his ears with something as close to comforting as a sound could be. That was right. Pokémon would be with him, he wouldn’t be alone. Steeling himself, he rose up and left his mother’s porch. With his nerves still rattled, but a new sense of exhilaration pumping through his veins, Matthew Red made his way to the laboratory of Professor Oak.


	3. Oak's Task

Oak’s laboratory was located on the far eastern side of Pallet Town, set in the center of a large open field. Surrounding the majority of the field was a white picket fence, keeping in a multitude of pokémon that the professor looked after. The building itself was fairly unimpressive, simply a rectangular wooden structure painted off-white with a gambrel roof. Great wide windows stretched across all sides of the laboratory except for the front, giving the researchers inside a constant view of the outside.  
  
Matthew approached the door and knocked twice. For a moment nothing happened and he thought about walking away, but then the door slowly opened to reveal a man dressed in a simple buttondown shirt the color of meowth fur and a black tie. “Can I help you?” the man asked politely.  
  
At the question Matt’s tongue flailed a bit in his mouth, attempting to answer, but it was a few seconds before anything coherent came out. “Professor O-Oak. I was s-sent here to see Professor Oak.”  
  
The man produced a clipboard and began scanning the piece of paper attached to it, mumbling to himself as he read. “That’s today then, is it?” he said, not looking up. “This explains why he moved that to tomorrow. Okay, you’re Red then? Follow me.”  
  
Matt did as he was told, trailing behind the man as casually as he could. But the resolve he had felt a few minutes prior had all but evaporated. All he could feel was the beating of his heart and a horrible sweat run down his back. The beeping and whirring of machines and computers filled the air, making him feel like he was in some mad scientist’s lab from a movie he had watched as a younger child. Men and women in white labcoats bustled about, not taking much interest in Matt and the man as they made their way to the far back of the building.  
  
“There is a Mr. Red to see you, sir,” the man said to a figure hunched over a table.  
  
Professor Oak turned around and looked from the man to Matt, one of his eyebrows raised. “Ah, yes! Wonderful! Thank you, Ced.” Behind the professor, Matthew could see two rectangular devices, one red and the other green. He had absolutely no idea what they were, yet could not take his eyes from them. It was as if he were meant to know what they were, or that they were somewhat important to him. Was it because one was a bright shade of the color that matched his name? Or something else?  
  
The man in the tie left Matthew and Oak alone and the professor scurried to another table as he began speaking to Matt. “Your mother tells me that you’re to become a trainer. Is that right?”  
  
Matt nodded but realized that as the professor walked from counter to table to counter he had not seen him. “Y-yes.”  
  
“To be young again and go off on an adventure! You must be very excited!” Professor Oak stopped whatever he was doing between the counters and tables and looked at Matt. He was an older man with graying hair and a tired, yet friendly face. “I was once a trainer. The best experience of my life, the old League challenge. But your mother also tells me that you’ve been struggling to make friends.” Oak stared at Matt as if he was waiting on an answer, but Matt had no explanation for that. It wasn’t so much trouble as it was he wasn’t bothering to try anymore. “She’s right to believe this journey will be good for you. Never have I heard of a trainer that didn’t make at least one friend on their adventure.”  
  
“R-right,” Matthew said, not knowing what else to say yet feeling it would have been impolite to still remain silent.  
  
“So today I am to give you your first partner for this challenge you are about to face. But there is something I will ask you to do in return,” the professor said, but before he could continue his attention was drawn to somewhere behind Matthew.  
  
“Gramps!” a familiar voice called and Matt’s insides squirmed. He did not want to have to speak to him, nor did he want to talk to Professor Oak in front of him so that he could be mocked. “I’m here for my pokémon!” Kayne Green was a loud, confident boy. His entire appearance screamed this from his perfectly styled spiked hair to his vibrant plum shirt. Around his neck, he wore a silver medallion.  
  
“Kayne? Didn’t I ask you to come a bit later?” Oak asked.  
“Yeah, but I couldn’t wait. Oh! Reddy-boy, what are you doin’ in my gramps’ lab? You here to shovel tauros manure for him or something?”  
  
“N-no!” Matt said, attempting to sound as defiant as possible. “I’m here for a p-pokémon!”  
  
“What? Gramps, you can’t be serious! Look, you don’t know Matt, but giving him a pokémon is a big mistake! He’ll either lose it somewhere or he’ll end up lost himself if he leaves town! Trust me, just don’t give him one!”  
  
Matt felt his face burn. Once Kayne had been his friend. They spent countless afternoons running around their backyards playing tag and raging rattata. But Kayne had changed, just as Matt had, but in the opposite direction. Now Matt could barely stand speaking to him, even less than a total stranger.  
  
“Now you stop that!” Oak said. “Fine, since you’re both here we’ll do this together. Today you will both be receiving your first partners and beginning your journey to conquer the Pokémon League. But in return, you will be doing something for me. When I was young I was quite the serious trainer, but as I grew older I became less interested in training and more invested in studying. Eventually, I began to dream of researching and knowing every pokémon in the world. But, at this age there is no way for me to do this.”  
  
Oak turned and picked up the green and red rectangular objects Matt had been so fixated on and turned back to the two boys. “These are electronic indexes used to catalog pokémon. On your adventure, I ask you scan each pokémon you come across. This will give me a good idea of what lives in this region. Aside from scanning it I will ask you to record something about the species, such as how it lives, battles, or behaves in general. Can you do this for me?”  
  
“Y-yes,” said Matt.  
  
“Of course, Gramps. But leave Red out of this. He’ll just make things more difficult for you!” said Kayne.  
  
“Enough, Kayne! Now, take the indexes, or Pokédex as I’ve named them, and get ready to add the first three pages.” Oak handed Kayne the green device and Matt the red, then pulled three red and white orbs from one of the pockets on his lab coat. Pressing the button on each of the balls, a flash of white light filled the area and three creatures appeared on the floor in front of them. Kayne opened his device and began scanning them with the camera on its back.  
  
“This is Bulbasaur, a grass and poison type. A strange seed was planted on its back at birth. The seed grows with the pokémon,” Oak said, and Matt watched as Kayne typed something into his device and copied him. The bulbasaur was a squat, toad-like creature with a bulb-like growth sitting atop its back. “Grass types are generally easy to raise, so its an excellent first partner.” It looked from Professor Oak to Kayne, and at last Matt, then gave a little shriek of delight as if it knew it was about to go on some fantastic journey.  
  
“Here is Charmander, a fire type. It prefers dry places because when it rains steam spouts from the end of its tail causing it a fair bit of pain.” The charmander looked like a bipedal orange lizard with a small flame on the very tip of its tail. It swung its tail at Bulbasaur, which the grass type did not appreciate, and gave a sort of chuckle as Bulbasaur backed away. Matthew could not tell if the fire type was playing or just plain mean. He did not think he could be friends with this pokémon.”  
  
“The last is Squirtle, a water type. It can shoot water from its mouth to attack prey, and withdraw into its shell to avoid danger.” The third possible partner was a blue turtle-like creature with a curly, squirrelish hairless tail. It looked friendly enough, but also did not seem to be interested in anything happening around it. Squirtle glanced about the lab, not paying any attention to the two boys that might choose to take it with them on an adventure.  
  
“Awesome! I’ll take—” Kayne started.  
  
“Hold on!” shouted Oak. “You weren’t meant to come until later. Matt was meant to choose first, and so he will.”  
  
“But I’m your grandkid! I want a pokémon too!”  
  
“And you’ll get one after Matthew here has chosen! Now then, Matt. Which of these three would you like as your very first partner?” Oak asked and Kayne grumbled and folded his arms.  
  
All three could become a great partner for a trainer, Matt knew. But which would suit him best? Definitely not the charmander. And between the squirtle and bulbasaur, the latter seemed the most interested in him. Maybe that would be the way to go, as he could at the very least become friends with it if he failed as a trainer. Yes, that was the way to go. “I choose Bulbasaur.”  
  
“Wonderful!” said Oak, handing Matthew his chosen partner’s poké ball. “I’m sure you’ll take good care of it!” The bulbasaur cried gleefully and ran up to Matt’s feet.  
  
Matt looked down at the pokémon, swelling with delight. This was his bulbasaur, his partner, his way of leaving Pallet and making friends across the land. “Hello, Bulbasaur,” he said easily.  
  
“Then I’ll take the charmander!” Kayne said, snatching the fire type’s ball out of his grandfather’s hand.  
  
“Kayne, I said wai—”  
  
“Scratch attack!” Kayne shouted, and the charmander, already knowing its new master, lunged at bulbasaur, swiping at the grass type with its claws. “Alright! I’ve got this already!”  
  
“What are you doing? Kayne this is ridiculous! Stop this right now!” commanded Oak. “Matthew doesn’t even know how to battle yet, do you?” Matt shook his head. “Right. Well, if this is going to happen, it’s good that you have someone here to teach you the very basics. Right now this bulbasaur only knows two techniques; tackle and growl. Tackle is a physical attack that does direct damage to the opponent, while growl does no damage but can weaken the opponent’s attack through intimidation. Go ahead and attack then.”  
  
“R-right. Bulbasaur u-use growl!” Matt cried and Bulbasaur gave out a small noise that could hardly be taken as intimidating.  
  
“Scratch again!” Kayne commanded, and again the fire type slashed at Bulbasaur, this time leaving a mark right above one of its eyes.  
  
“Growl!” Matt said, feeling worried now about his pokémon. If he weakened Charmander’s attack enough then maybe Bulbasaur would be safe.  
  
“Scratch!” Kayne said for the third time in a row.  
  
“Gr—”  
  
“Try using tackle,” suggested Oak. “While it’s good to try and lower the power of your foe, you still need to damage their vitality if you’re going to win. And Bulbasaur’s looking tired already. Even a weakened scratch attack is going to be effective now.”  
  
“Okay, tackle!” commanded Matthew, and Bulbasaur charged at Kayne’s partner, attempting to slam into it. But at the last moment the fire type jumped out of the way.  
  
“Scratch!” For the fourth and final time Charmander swiped at Bulbasaur, not only cutting into its face but sending it flying back several feet. The grass type laid on the floor of the lab like a soft onion and did not move. “And that’s one of many victories to come!”  
  
Matthew stared down at his new partner, this creature that was supposed to become his friend and help him along this challenge. And he had already failed it, he had already lost. “B-Bulbasaur,” he said, bending down to stroke the wilted bulb. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“Go ahead and put it in its poké ball,” said Oak. “And then we’ll heal it up. Bulbasaur will be just fine.” Matthew held the ball out and called the bulbasaur back inside. “Don’t worry about losing, it was your first battle. And you were taken by surprise,” he said, scowling at Kayne.  
  
“Didn’t matter how ready he was, he was always gonna lose,” Kayne said, putting his charmander back in its own ball. “Well, I’m outta here. See ya gramps. Red, don’t even bother following. You’ll just be wasting your time.”  
  
And Matt knew he was right. He knew that no matter what, he would never be able to achieve anything as a trainer. His mother was wrong, this was not what he needed. But he could not go back to her.


	4. Viridian City

Close to two hours passed before Oak returned to Matthew with Bulbasaur, and they were the longest hours of Matt’s life. He had been a trainer for less than ten minutes, but had already let his partner down. This was not what a trainer did. Trainer and pokémon were meant to work together, to overcome whatever challenges they come up against as a team. But Matt had never been much for teamwork.

“Here you go, Matthew,” Oak said, handing Matt back the red and white ball, and then five more. “I was going to give Kayne a few things too, but I suppose I’ll have his sister send it off to him. These here are empty, you’ll need them to catch wild pokémon. And you’ll need this too,” he said to Matt, giving him a rectangular piece of plastic about the size of a playing card. On it was a picture of his face, his name, and his hometown.

Above his picture was printed “Pokémon League Trainer License. License issued July 15th, 1996.” Along the very bottom of the card was eight squares, each with a numeral inside them numbering from 1-8.

“This is what you’ll need to take part in the League. Otherwise, you won’t be allowed to challenge any gym, which would not do. You do know about gyms, right?” Matt nodded, but not confidently. He knew that gyms were where League battles took place, and that they needed to be beaten before a trainer could challenge the champion. But other than that he knew little. Oak seemed to have read his thoughts. “Well, just in case, I’ll go over it with you.

“In order to challenge the League Champion you will need to earn gym badges, little trinkets that prove you’ve beaten a gym leader. There are roughly thirty gyms in our league, but you needn’t challenge them all. Only eight badges are needed. The badges will represent your tier.”

“Tier?” asked Matt.

“Yes, your tier represents your strength as a trainer, more or less. The pokémon a gym leader will use depends on your tier. They will use a different set of partners for a tier two trainer than they would for a tier four. Otherwise, they could use their most powerful team against a fledgling trainer, and no one would ever progress in the league. Right now you’re tier one. Each badge will bump you up a level. Only a tier nine can challenge the champion.”

Matt’s head swam. How was he ever supposed to earn eight gym badges? He supposed he could beat a low-level leader, but after that there was no way he could get another. “O-okay,” he said, though he really wanted to ask a dozen more questions, or maybe just if he could return Bulbasaur and go home. But that wasn’t going to happen. “Where should I go? We d-don’t have a gym here, do we?”

“No. Not yet anyway. The town council has been discussing it for years, but nothing has ever come of it. The closest gym to here is just north up the road in Viridian. You know how to get there, I’d assume.” Oak asked and Matt nodded.

He had been to Viridian City twice when he was younger. From what he remembered it was a nice, clean city that reminded him of summer days playing in the grass and earth. If he was to get to Viridian he would have to travel up Route 1, an underdeveloped road that almost took out the axle of his mother’s car the last time he had gone with her. Few people from Pallet took the route, and so developing it was of low priority.

“Splendid!” Oak said and patted Matt on the shoulder. “Now, you get a move on! Your journey awaits you!”

And so Matthew Red left Professor Oak’s laboratory and headed to the north, towards the heavily wooded road that linked Pallet to Viridian. This would be his first time leaving town on his own.

OOO

Route 1 was quiet, peaceful, and empty of people. Matthew took reassurance in this as he took his first few steps out of the town. Blue-green trees whispered all around him as the wind blew softly, shaking the evergreen needles like a rattle. This was not what he had expected at all. Matt had anticipated a path lined with boys his age just waiting to make eye contact with him, and forcing him into a battle he was sure to lose. Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a terrible adventure after all?

Coos and chirps rang out from the trees and uncut grass and Matt made his way up the path. Several times he heard a rustling in the bushes lining the edge of the woods, making him grip Bulbasaur’s poké ball tightly, ready to throw his partner out at any moment. But all he ever saw was a small flock of pidgey carelessly dusting themself off in the loose dirt on the edges of the unkept gravel road. After watching a few of them get into a squabble and kick dirt at each other, he remembered the Pokédex and recorded a page for pidgey. He entered “A common sight in wooded areas. It flaps its wings at the ground to kick up a cloud of blinding dust,” into the divice, smiling as he felt he had actually achieved something already.

Much sooner than he had expected, shimmering emerald-tiled roofs appeared on the horizon just as the sun began to set. Matthew had begun to worry about sleeping outside in the night, so this hurried him along. He knew that eventually he would have no choice but to camp outdoors, but as long as shelter was available he was going to take it.

Car horns became audible the closer he got, and the more noise he heard the faster he ran. Eventually, he came to a dilapidated sign that once read “Welcome to Viridian City, the Eternally Green Paradise,” but if Matt hadn’t already know what it said he would not have been able to make it out. There wasn’t a point in keeping a sign welcoming people from a direction they rarely came from, or so the people in charge of the city’s signs probably thought.

Now that he was in the city, where was he to go? Night had fully fallen now, and he was dreadfully tired after the ordeal with Kayne and his walk up Route 1. A place to spend the night was the only answer. But with its multi-storied buildings and winding, green-themed streets, Matt wandered for close to an hour without finding a place to stay. His mother had packed a good amount of money for him to live off of until she could send him more, the note she had put in his bag said. But without a place to rent, money was not all that useful.

Even though it was night, the streets and sidewalks of Viridian City were alive. Cars revved their engines and the people driving them shouted at one another. Families casually walked down the paths, uncaring if their large group pushed people out of the way and into the street. Pidgeys sat atop the awnings of shops and restaurants, waiting for passersby to accidentally drop something they could eat. It was all so different from Pallet Town at night, and it made Matt sick to his stomach. Too many people.

When he turned a corner, trying his best to not bump into any city-dweller that wasn’t paying attention to where they were going, Matthew spotted a large white building with a bright red roof. On the ground around the building were numerous spotlights, all pointing directly at the roof as if it wanted to be some sort of beacon. It was unlike anything else in the city. Many people were coming and going from the building, but all of them had at least one pokémon with them, which made Matt feel a little better about approaching it.

He took a deep breath and marched across the street to the odd building. Cautiously he pushed his way past a stream of people exiting and arrived at the entrance. The automatic glass doors that led into the building were marked with a stylized poké ball for a logo. Whatever this place was, it had something to do with pokemon. Did that mean, as a trainer, it was a place for Matt as well? The doors slid open and he slowly walked inside, looking around for anything that let him know he was allowed to be there.

Not far from the entrance a pink-haired woman sat behind a white, sterile-looking desk. Behind her looked to be several different machines, all with the same logo that he had seen on the glass door. Some of the machines seemed to be holding what looked like poké balls of various colors; aside from there normal red tops, he saw some that were purple with a big yellow “H” painted on top, and a few green and brown topped that looked like military camouflage.

“Hello there and welcome to our Pokémon Center! Would you like us to give your partners a proper rest?” the woman asked, startling Matt. But her question had answered his. This was one of those centers for trainers to rest and heal their team at. He had heard about them but had never been to one. He had never needed to.

“Oh. My p-pokémon are fine,” he said. “I w-was just looking for a place to stay. I’m not from h-here.”

“Yes, I can tell that. Most trainers that stop by here are from out of town. If you need somewhere to spend the night, you’ve come to the right place!” the woman said with a friendly smile that Matt decided was genuine. Normally he struggled with telling whether a person was pretending to be nice or not, but he felt like this woman honestly wanted to help him. “Upstairs are our trainer rooms, you’re more than welcome to claim an unoccupied one. Just look for a door without a red ‘occupied’ marker.”

“Oh, th-thank you,” he said, then noticed what looked like three phones against the wall, separated in open booths. The moment he realized what they were his feet started for them, but he forced himself to stop. His mother told him he wasn’t allowed to come home for a while, but she hadn’t said anything about not calling her. Matt bit his lip and debated whether to call her or not, but when a trainer from upstairs appeared and sat down at one of the booths, he decided he would call her in the morning.

“You’ll never guess!” he heard the trainer say before he walked away, not trying to eavesdrop. “Yeah! Three badges now! Gonna try my hand at the gym here tomorrow. Then I’ll be halfway there!”

Badges. Matt had nearly forgotten that was the reason he was in Viridian in the first place. Should he challenge the leader tomorrow as well? Was that a smart thing to do? He’d only ever had one battle before, and he hadn’t even come close to winning. He decided he would call his mother first thing when he woke up to see what she thought, if she even wanted to speak to him.

OOO

When the clock read eight o’clock he decided it was time to get out of bed. He had not slept even a little bit. The anxiety he felt from his mother not accepting his call, the possibility that he might have to challenge a gym leader this day, it was all too much. Reluctantly he dragged himself to the restroom, showered as quickly as he could in the ice-cold drizzle the center provided, and dressed in his favorite black shirt with a red and white vest over top, blue jeans, and of course his hat. Did this make him look like a trainer? The trainer on the phone the previous night had been wearing shorts. Should he wear shorts?

He made his way downstairs to find the area opposite the phones packed with people and their partners. The trainers were all sitting at tables shoveling what looked like eggs into their mouths, while their pokémon ate from metal bowls set out around the floor. The woman behind the desk, a different person from yesterday, noticed Matt and approached him.

“Good morning!” she said cheerfully and just as sincere as the last woman. “It’s time for breakfast! What can I get you?”

“Oh, I’m not hungry,” he said. How could he be hungry when his stomach seemed to be completely full of butterfrees?

“What about your pokémon? We have a policy here that all of a trainer’s partners must have eaten breakfast before they leave. It’s incredibly important for their health!”

Matt pulled Bulbasaur’s ball from his belt, looked at it carefully for a moment, then opened it. A flash of light erupted from the ball, and after it settled the little green-blue toad-like creature appeared. Bulbasaur looked up at the woman, then to Matt, then seemed to giggle and look away bashfully. “Y-yeah, Bulbasaur should probably eat s-something. Wh-what do you sell for breakfast?”

“Oh, we don’t sell anything here!” the woman said, confusing Matt. “We don’t charge for anything! All the Pokémon Centers in this region are fully funded by the League, you know! If we didn’t exist, well, there’d be no League!” she reached into the front pocket of the impossibly white apron she was wearing and produced a small purple can, handing it to Matthew. “Feed this to Bulbasaur, it’s specially formulated for grass and poison types.”

Matt thanked her as she walked away and began feeding Bulbasaur the small brown pellets he found with in the can. He struggled to get the grass type to look at him, though he couldn’t tell if it didn’t like him or if it was just embarrassed from something. Eventually, all the food was gone and Bulbasaur seemed to be content, and Matt returned it to its ball. He then set his attention to the phones.

Matt slipped ¥100 into the booth’s coin slot and dialed his mother’s number. After a few rings, someone picked up. “Red residence,” her familiar voice said politely.

“Mom. It’s me.”

“Matthew! Where are you? Are you okay?”

Matt’s brow furrowed. What was she even asking? She was the one that told him to leave, to not come home. But he couldn’t say that to her. He knew she was trying to do what was best, even if he disagreed. “I’m in the Pokémon Center in Viridian. Got here last night. Me and Bulbasaur are fine.”

“Bulbasaur? So that’s your first partner then? That’s great dear, and I’m so happy you’re okay. Well, how are things going other than that?”

“Fine, I think. Right now I’m just trying to decide what to do. There’s a gym here in Viridian, but I don’t know if I’m ready to challenge it. I mean, Kayne’s the only trainer I’ve battled so far, and I lost. What should I do?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you that, Matt. This journey is for you, I can’t always say what’s best for you. If you ask around the city, particularly in that Center, there will probably be someone else that has a better idea of what to do in your situation,” she said, letting Matt’s heart fall. They talked for a bit more until Matt decided he had nothing else to say to her. He hung up and resigned to sit at the phone booth alone, thinking about what she had said.

Matt looked around the Center, wondering if he should ask any of the many trainers there if they knew anything about the Viridian Gym. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. They would think him a failed trainer for being afraid to challenge it, and so far Matt thought they would be right. Not sure what else he could do, Matt left the Center and decided to have a walk about the city to see what he could find in the daylight.

But after an hour or so he realized that there wasn’t much to do for a new and unskilled trainer in Viridian, and chose to return to the center. He still was not going to ask the trainers there about the gym, but he thought relaxing there for another day might give him the courage to go to the gym on his own. When he turned onto the street the center was on, he noticed a strange little worm-like creature inching along the ground. Matt brought out his Pokédex and snapped a picture. Brown with a great pink nose and sharp spike on its head, Matt instantly recognized a weedle. He found it strange to find one in the middle of a city as they were known to mostly be forest dwellers. It had found some kind of plant growing out of a crack in the sidewalk and was proceeding to eat it with its tiny mouth. Before doing anything else he typed what he knew about the creature into the Pokédex. “Often found in forests, eating leaves. It has a sharp venomous stinger on its head.”

Some instinct in Matt told him to send out Bulbasaur, and in a flash, the grass type was on the ground in front of him. Bulbasaur shied away from Matt’s gaze, but froze when it spotted the bug and readied itself. He was going to be a good Pokémon Trainer. He couldn’t go around the country afraid of every little interaction. “Bulbasaur, use Tackle!” he commanded, and his partner slammed itself into the weedle.

Weedle was knocked back a few feet, but regained its composure quickly. It had been taken by surprise. The bug made a high pitched hiss and a stream of white string shot from its mouth, tangling around Bulbasaur’s feet. “Tackle again!” shouted Matt, but before Bulbasaur could make its move the weedle dived at it, plunging the poison spike into one of Bulbasaur’s arms. Somewhat free from the string, Bulbasaur was able to make its own attack and struck the weedle again.

This time when the bug was knocked back it tried to scurry away, but Matt wasn’t going to let that happen. He took one of the empty balls Oak had given him, enlarged it, and threw it straight at the weedle. It struck the bug on the spike and pulled the weedle inside. The ball snapped shut and landed on the ground, rolling back and forth as the creature inside tried to escape. And escape it did. The ball shattered, releasing the pokémon with a shimmer of sparks, and the weedle again tried to get away from its attacker.

And then another ball struck the bug, but it was not Matt’s. When the weedle was pulled into this ball, it did not escape. The ball clicked and was still. “Well, would you look at that. I caught myself a weedle,” said the voice of Kayne Green.

Matt felt his heart begin to beat furiously, but he could not tell if it was fear or nerves or anger, possibly a combination of the three. “Th-that was mine! I w-w-was gonna catch it!”

“Yeah, yeah, I watched the whole thing. You weren’t gonna do squat,” Kayne sneered, picking up his new weedle and putting the ball into his pack. “So how many pokémon have you caught so far? Weedle here is my sixth.”

“S-sixth?” Matt asked, shame filling up every space in his body that was empty of the fear, anger, and anxiety. “I… I haven’t caught anyth-thing yet.”

Kayne’s laugh was worse than any insult he could give. “Well, I wouldn’t bother checking out the Viridian Gym then. Not that I could either. The guy says he won’t battle anyone less than a tier seven, can you believe that? When I’ve got my six badges he better believe I’m coming back here to destroy him.”

“T-tier seven?”

“Yeah! Didn’t Gramps explain the League tiers to you?”

“He did, b-but…” Matt didn’t know what to say.

“Whatever. Well, it looks like we’ve, or I’ve rather, got two choices then. Wenge Town to the east has a gym that specializes in flying types. You better not think about challenging them if all you’ve got is that pathetic bulbasaur,” he said, smirking at the grass type. Matt returned it to the ball. “Grass types wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Y-you s-said there were two choices?”

“Yeah, other one’s up north through Viridian Forest. Pewter City. Can’t remember what type they specialize in. If it’s something like fire you’d be equally screwed whichever way you go,” Kayne laughed. “But maybe that’s where you should go. There’s plenty of weak pokémon in that forest, maybe you can catch a few to make your team a little less pathetic?”

Matt watched as Kayne walked away, clutching Bulbasaur’s poké ball and chewing on his lip. He knew that Kayne was just trying to get to him, but what he said didn’t sound like too bad of an idea. In a forest he could absolutely find a new partner, and there would be less people he’d have to deal with than this city.

And so Matthew Red made up his mind to go through Viridian Forest.


	5. Viridian Forest

Route 2 was a much better road than the route between Viridian and Pallet. Instead of loose gravel, dust, and dirt, it was paved with asphalt and obviously well taken care of. It seemed that travel between Viridian City and Pewter was much more frequent, at least by car. What served as sidewalks for the route were old and crumbling, and half an hour after leaving the city they ended, becoming nothing more than dirt paths.

Eventually, Matthew came to a sharp curve in the road, but the dirt path running alongside it continued forward into the trees that had seemed to be growing in density the further he got from the city. A large road sign was posted at the curve, and Matt stood just underneath it to read. He could see what it said from far away, but could not decide just what to do with the information it provided. According to the sign, if he followed the road it would take him directly to Pewter. But the dirt path took a much longer route to the city, through the forest.

Pewter City was Matthew’s destination. It was where he was meant to fight his first gym battle, and maybe get his first badge. But the only pokémon he possessed had yet to win any battle at all. That weedle might have counted as a victory, but Matt didn’t think it did.  _ What do I do _ ? The forest was bound to have new pokémon for him to catch. But it also meant he might need to spend the night under the trees if he didn’t make it out before dark. He didn’t even know how long it would take to get through.

And if he was to take the direct path, then what? He’d be in the same situation he had been before he learned Viridian’s gym leader only accepted higher tier trainers. Even if he didn’t catch anything before challenging the Pewter Gym, Bulbasaur still needed experience of its own. Matt also needed experience, and neither were likely to find any on the road. Real trainers would be braving the forest.

Matthew pulled a red and white ball from his pack and tossed it into the air. After an explosion of light, Bulbasaur sat in front of him. The grass-type gazed around at the greenery and sniffed at something its trainer could not smell. “Bulbasaur,” he said, and his partner turned its face towards him but seemed to struggle to make eye contact. “What do you think? Should we take the easy route to the city, or go through the… dark and… creepy forest?” He looked through the gap in the trees the path ran through closely for the first time. The possibility he’d have to sleep there had always been on his mind, and he knew he would likely run into other people. But he had never considered that the forest itself would be scary.

“Raa?” the grass-type croaked. “Daaan!” Bulbasaur took several leaps up the dirt path and turned back to look at him. It seemed to be smiling, if a bulbasaur could smile.

He wasn’t sure if Bulbasaur understood him, but he took its excitement for the forest as an answer. Tagging along behind Bulbasaur, they entered Viridian Forest.

Instantly Matt noticed the lack of sunlight, the tree branches above grew over the path and obscured the sky. He took a deep breath and marched on up the path feeling like something could jump out of him at any moment. But maybe he wanted something to jump out at him. As long as it wasn’t another trainer. He suspected it was more likely for bugs to be in the trees than people, and that was exciting. Another chance at catching a weedle would show that he wasn’t a total failure. The only reason he failed before was that Kayne had cheated. Or was that cheating?

Strange sounds reverberated through the trees. Some of it sounded like a high pitched buzzing from insect wings. A few times he could have sworn he heard the unmistakable squeaks of small, rodent-like pokémon like pikachu and rattata, but none ever showed themselves to him. Mostly what he heard though were the cries of weedles, making him feel like he was surrounded by the bug-types.

Other bugs dwelt in the trees. Several times he spotted caterpies and metapods, but they were too far out of Bulbasaur’s reach for him to do anything. Still, it was a chance for him to add their data to his Pokédex. For the small green caterpillar with a pink crest on its head, he recorded that its feet were suction cup-like and allowed them to climb steep slopes like walls and trees. For the metapods he observed that they remained motionless, waiting for the green shell that encased their bodies to harden.

Bulbasaur had slowed its pace to walk next to its trainer now. Occasionally it would look up at Matt, but as soon as he looked back it would turn its head and act as if it hadn’t been staring at all. Matt smiled at it, feeling both comforted and happy to have it by his side. They had known each other for less than a day, but already he felt a bit attached to the grass-type. He hoped it would feel the same someday. But first, he would have to get it to look at him.

After they had been walking for several hours Matthew decided that it was the proper time for a rest. Beneath a large hackberry tree, he found an old fallen log that looked to be a frequented place for travelers to visit. Most of the bark atop the log had been worn away, and the dirt that surrounded it was evidence of many feet shuffling and grinding any grass that had once been there. He took out the can of food the Pokémon Center nurse had given him to feed Bulbasaur, and then set up the tripod his mother had packed him, hooking on it a pot that hung a little over a foot above the ground. He had never cooked anything entirely by himself before, but he didn’t think it would be that hard.

But he was wrong. The bits of dead grass and twigs he had placed under the pot for kindling refused to take flame no matter how many sparks he sent into it from his flint and steel. Were they not dry enough? Or maybe he simply did not know what he was doing. After nearly half an hour of striking the piece of metal against a rock, he gave up and surrendered to the fact that he would have to eat his food cold. Dry ramen was far from the worst thing he could eat, and so he was forced to slowly pour the spice-dusted noodles into his mouth from the little paper cup they came in. It was crunchier than he liked, but did not taste horrible. Bulbasaur seemed to be enjoying the special grass and poison-type kibble, tempting Matt to try it for himself before he considered that it might be poisonous for a human or non-poison type.

He did not hear footsteps or breathing or any indication that someone was approaching. So when the person cleared their throat, Matthew leaped up from the log, spilling the remainder of his ramen all over the pile of grass and twigs that refused to light. Bulbasaur croaked and jumped in between its trainer and the newcomer. “Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to frighten you!” said the person. Matt regained his composure and turned to look at this intruder. It was a boy about his age dressed in a tank top, shorts, and sporting a wide-brimmed straw hat. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah,” he said, unsure if that was true or not.

“I don’t normally see people around this part of the forest, you see. Train here almost every day, and when I saw you might be a trainer I just got excited. You are a trainer, ain’t ya?”

“T-trainer?” Matt asked, looking from the boy to Bulbasaur. “Oh. Yeah! I’m a t-trainer.”

“Awesome! The name’s Sammy!” he said, offering his hand to Matt. Matt hesitated for a moment, but took Sammy’s hand and shook it. “Rare to find trainers in here. Most people don’t care for bugs!”

“My n-name’s Matthew. Or Matt.”

“Well, Matt. You’re a trainer. I’m a trainer. Seems like this meeting was meant to be! What do you think?”

“Think? What d-do I think about what?”

“Dan a da!” Bulbasaur croaked, lowering its head and looking at Matt. They held their gaze for several seconds, the longest they had gone without the grass-type looking away from him.

“Oh,” said Matthew. “A b-battle? You want to battle me?”

“Yeah! It’s what trainers do after all, right? What ya say?”

Matt continued to gaze into his partner’s eyes, who returned it with a strong determination that he thought he could feel in his soul. “Bulbasaur, do you want to battle… er… Sammy?”

“Fuuuush!” Bulbasaur cried, finally taking its eyes off its trainer so that it could face Sammy.

“O-okay! We’ll battle you! B-but…” Matt hesitated. “Well, I’m really n-new. I’ve really only had one trainer battle before.”

“Hey, that’s no problem! Since I’m challenging you, that means you get to choose the rules, right? So you can make them however you want!” said Sammy, pulling a poké ball out of his pocket.

“Rules?” asked Matthew.

“Sure! You know! If someone challenges you, you get to decide how many pokémon are used in the battle, whether or not you can switch out, time limit. Those sorts of things!”

“Oh. Well, I’ve only got Bulbasaur here,” Matt said, suddenly feeling less confident than ever. “Can we each just use one pokémon?”

“Sure!” said Sammy with a grin that showed off his bright white teeth. “One pokémon each, no substitutions, battle ends when one pokémon faints. How does that sound?”

“That sounds alright,” Matt answered, not sure what all of it meant, but he could guess. “S-so how do we begin?”

“Well, usually the challenger sends their pokémon out first, but since you already have your Bulbasaur out we can’t do that. After that, the challenger’s opponent, you, can give the first command. Then the battle’s on!” Sammy threw his poké ball into the air where it opened, releasing a flash of light that formed into a yellow triangular pokémon with a round head and dark black eyes. “I’ll be using Kakuna!”

Matt noted that like metapod, the evolved form of weedle was incapable of moving, and likely could only harden its shell to protect itself. He wanted to add that to the Pokedex, but knew that this was not the proper time. “S-so… my move?”

“Yup! Go ahead when ready, Matthew!”

Matt took in a deep breath, thrust his right fist forward, and shouted. “Go Bulbasaur! Use tackle!”

Bulbasaur charged forward, slamming headfirst into the hard shell of the cocoon-like pokémon that sat motionless on the ground. The attack knocked it over onto its side, but the bug-type did not try to get back on its bottom.

“Poison sting!” commanded Sammy, and the kakuna, still on its side, spit a purple needle-like projectile from somewhere on its head. The needle struck Bulbasaur in the face but didn’t seem to do much. “If your bulbasaur wasn’t also poison-type that would’ve done a lot more!”

“Yeah, I guess so. Bulbasaur, use tackle again!” Matt called, and Bulbasaur charged forward again.

“Harden!” Sammy cried, and the bug-type sat straight up on its pointed bottom. Before Bulbasaur could make contact, the kakuna’s golden shell began to glow with a faint light, and when the tackle connected it seemed to do less damage than before. “Now poison sting when it’s close!” Again a needle flew at Bulbasaur, and although the grass-type tried to dodge, it couldn’t move fast enough.

“Shiii!” cried Bulbasaur. The attack seemed to have struck it harder than the last one.

“Critical hit!” shouted Sammy.

“Bulbasaur, don’t worry! W-we’ll do this! Use growl!” Matt called, but Bulbasaur looked back at him and shook its head. Instead, it tensed its body up, looking very much like it was in pain. The seed on its back swelled and swelled until it had grown half a size larger. And when Matt thought it was about to burst, something shot from the top like a bullet. Kakuna was struck with a fist-sized dark object, and the instant it touched the bug it sprouted into a tangle of vines.

“Leech seed?” Sammy said. “Well, that’s not good! Try to shake it off, Kakuna!”

The bug-type shimmied on the spot, but the already mostly stationary pokémon was even more restricted now, and it was unable to do anything against the vines. The tangle of plant matter that surrounded Kakuna then glowed a bright green and sent a ray of energy directly into Bulbasaur’s seed.

“Wh-what? What’s leech seed?” asked Matt.

“A grass-type attack that surrounds a pokémon in mistletoe then saps their energy and gives it to the user! Didn’t think your bulbasaur would know it! But no matter! Kakuna use poison sting!”

But the energy Bulbasaur had received from Kakuna seemed to have reinvigorated it, and the grass-type leaped out of the way before it could be hit. “Nice! Nice job Bulbasaur!” Matt cried, a smile stretching across his face. His heart was beating furiously as this battle intensified. This was going much better than his battle with Kayne. “Now tackle!”

“Daaaaa!” Bulbasaur cried as it ran forward, and with its new power, it slammed into Kakuna and knocked it into the air. Sammy ran forward to catch his pokémon before it hit the ground, but wasn’t fast enough. Kakuna hit the ground with a thud and then made no other sound.

“Wh-what?” asked Matt.

“Kakuna!” Sammy said, rushing over to his pokémon’s side. The bug-type was still silent, and when Sammy pulled the vines off his partner’s body it was obvious that the battle had taken its toll. “It’s fainted,” he said quietly and returned it to its ball. “You beat me… Wow, I didn’t think that was going to happen when I saw you! And then when you told me you were new I thought for sure this battle was gonna be mine!”

“I… I won?” Matt said, and looked to Bulbasaur. The grass-type seemed to smile at him briefly before quickly looking away, back to its bashful ways. “I won! Thank you, Bulbasaur!” he cried and launched himself at Bulbasaur, wrapping his arms around the large seed. Bulbasaur croaked but did not try to get away.

“Congratulations!” Sammy said, holding his hand out again. This time Matt did not hesitate to shake it.

“Th-thank you!” said Matt, returning Bulbasaur to its ball to give it a nice rest.

“Leech seed really surprised me! But you really should catch more pokémon, you know. Why are you in this forest anyway, can I ask?”

“Partly to catch pokémon,” answered Matt. “But also to get to… Pewter City, I think? I’m challenging the L-League.”

“Pewter? Oh, you’re definitely going to need to power yourself up if you’re going to challenge the gym leader there! Tackle and leech seed aren’t going to do anything against his pokémon.”

“Well, I hope to do that in here. But I haven’t found anything I could actually catch,” said Matt, looking around him again to see nothing but bugs high up in the trees. “How far do I have to go before I g-get to Pewter?”

“Well, if you keep moving through the night and skip sleeping, you’ll be there by morning. If not, probably another day.”

“Another d-day? Well, that gives me time, then,” Matt said, picturing himself trying to navigate through the forest at night. It was already dark now. It would be impossible to see when the sun went down. He would have to camp out regardless.

“Well then, I wish you luck! Have a good one, Matt! Maybe we’ll see each other again. I’ve gotta get myself to a Pokémon Center!”

Sammy left Matt at his unlit cookfire and disappeared into the trees. Matthew watched after him, Bulbasaur’s ball clutched tightly in his hand, and a rare smile on his tired face.


	6. The Museum of Science

Spending the night in Viridian Forest went a lot better than Matt ever thought it would. Despite not being able to light a fire, the sleeping bag his mother had packed him kept him warm enough, and the darkness did not frighten him at all. Maybe this was because Bulbasaur slept next to his head all through the night. Unlike the previous night in the Pokémon Center, Matt slept all the way through to morning, being woken by a weak beam of sunlight that broke through the canopy.

After packing up camp, Matthew and Bulbasaur continued their way through Viridian Forest, both with a new spring in their step. Excitement and happiness coursed through Matt after his first victory, and now all he wanted was more. Caterpies, metapods, weedles, and kakunas screeched at him from the tops of the forest the entire time they walked, but he would not let them dampen his mood. He thought he’d even be happy to see another trainer and maybe get a second victory.

But nothing like that happened, and just after noon, Matt noticed that the trees that lined the path were beginning to thin. It seemed his time in the forest was coming to an end. That soured his mood a bit, and he debated if he should turn around and stay for another day, but decided against it. Pewter City was not far at all now, and that meant a Pokémon Center that Bulbasaur needed after going up against Sammy’s kakuna. After resting at the Center for a bit, then maybe he could come back and get in more training before going to the gym.

Sunlight flooded his eyes and he broke out of the trees and onto the continuation of Route 2. The road traveled up a semi-steep hill, but over it Matt could see the tops of slate roofs and chimneys billowing smoke out into the afternoon sky. The sudden urge to run grabbed a hold of him and he made to put Bulbasaur back into its ball when he heard a rustling noise from a patch of knee-high grass just to the left of the road.

“Dan dane dan!” cried Bulbasaur, creeping closer to the grass with its head held low.

“What is it, Bulbasaur? A wild pokémon?” he asked, and with those words something leaped from the grass. A small purple rodent-like creature landed in front of Bulbasaur, its oversized teeth snapping in an attempt to look intimidating. “Rattata!” Matt knew this pokémon. They were prone to biting at anything when they attack and were a common sight almost everywhere. “It’s wild! Bulbasaur, use leech seed!”

Bulbasaur did as commanded, but as the seed on its back began to swell the rat pokémon charged at the grass-type at an incredible speed. It slashed at Bulbasaur’s face with its tiny claws and jumped back into its previous position in what felt like less than a second to Matt. When at last the leech seed fired from Bulbasaur’s back, the normal-type was able to speed out of the way and avoid it.

“Was that a quick attack? Try it again, Bulbasaur!”

Bulbasaur’s seed began to swell again, and this time the mistletoe seed inside managed to erupt before the normal-type struck Bulbasaur with its quick attack. Rattata jumped back after striking Matt’s partner and immediately became entangled in thick vines. The vines sapped at the rattata’s health, transferring it to Bulbasaur and healing some of the damage done to the grass-type.

“Tackle!”

The seed pokémon charged forward and the rat pokémon did the same. A horrible crash sounded across Route 2 as the two collided. Bulbasaur looked to have taken a hefty hit, but Matt felt that the normal-type had it worse. After another sap from the leech seed, the rattata stumbled, signaling to Matt that the battle was nearly over. “Alright! Here I go! Go poké ball!” He enlarged one of the empty balls Oak had given him and threw it in the same way his father had taught him to throw a baseball.

The ball struck the rattata in the head, pulling it inside after transforming it into a red energy. Once inside, the ball began to roll back and forth as the rattata struggled inside to get out. Three times it rolled left to right, but on the fourth, it burst open. The poké ball shattered, sending shrapnel in all directions and nearly hitting Matt in the face.

“Ko ko ko!” the normal-type cried angrily before speeding towards Bulbasaur again with its quick attack. But before Matt could throw another ball or even command his partner to attack again, the mistletoe did its job for a third time. Rattata fell on its side, completely unable to battle.

Matt pulled another empty ball out, enlarged it, and looked down at the rat-like pokémon. “Rattata… please! Help me in the League!” He tossed the ball directly at the rattata, striking it in the head and pulling it inside again. But this time the ball did not shake. The button clicked as the capsule sealed itself. Rattata was caught!

“I… I did it…” Matt said calmly as he walked over to the ball, picking it up. He spun on the spot and bent down, presenting it to Bulbasaur. “We did it, Bulbasaur! We caught Rattata!”

“Daaa!” the grass-type cried gleefully.

“But it’s pretty badly hurt now. And you probably don’t feel too great either, do you? We had better get to the Pokémon Center quick then!” Matt put his partner back into its ball and then sprinted the rest of the way up Route 2.

OOO

Pewter City was unlike anything Matt had ever seen. It was nothing like the brightly colored and happy-looking place that was Viridian, and was nearly the opposite of the quiet little Pallet with its roaring cars and drab colors everywhere. Gray roofs and gray walled buildings lined the streets, leaving only a few buildings to stand out. The bright red-roofed structure located near the center of the city was his destination. It stood just below a high dirt wall that separated the northern half of the city from the south, and at the very top was a massive silver stadium; the Pewter City Gym.

Matt took a big gulp of air as he looked up at the menacing site. He had two partners now, but even when they were both healed up he didn’t know how much help they would be. Sammy had said that Bulbasaur’s moves wouldn’t be enough to beat the leader there. And from what he had seen from Rattata, it wouldn’t be much different. Quick attack seemed to simply be a faster version of tackle, after all.

The inside of the Pokémon Center was nearly identical to the one in Viridian. Behind a desk he found a pink-haired nurse that was speaking to a familiar-looking boy in a straw hat. “Here’s your beedrill now. Take good care of it and come back whenever you need!” she said to him, handing the boy a ball.

After putting the ball away the boy turned, spotting Matthew and putting on a big smile. “Ey! Matt, right? Yeah! How’s it going? Looks like you got through the forest alright then!”

“Y-yeah. Wasn’t bad at all,” Matt said to Sammy. “I caught a new pokémon! B-but it’s pretty weak right now. That’s why I’m here.”

“Hey, congratulations! Maybe it’ll be enough to help you beat Brock!”

“Brock?” asked Matt.

“The Pewter gym leader! Anyway, it was nice seeing you again! I’m about to head onto Route 3, if you’ll excuse me. Someone told me there were parases out there and I want to see if they were telling the truth!” Sammy held out his hand for Matt to shake and then left the center.

“Did you say that you had a weak pokémon?” the nurse asked after Sammy had left. “Bring them right here and I’ll get them all healed up!”

“Yes, my rattata and bulbasaur. Th-they’ve been through quite a bit,” he told her, handing over the two red and white balls.

“Have no worry!” the nurse said cheerfully. She placed the capsules into one of the machines behind her. The machine gave off a whirring, almost musical noise and images of Matt’s partners appeared on a computer screen just above. “They don’t seem to be in too bad of condition! Give me a few hours and they’ll be as fit as a machoke!”

“Th-thank you,” Matt said, turning to leave the nurse’s station.

“Oh, and did that boy mention that you were going to challenge Brock?” she asked before he could turn fully away.

“The gym l-leader? Oh, y-yeah, that’s why I’m h-here.”

“Well right now he’s at the museum. Since you’ve got a good wait, why don’t you go and see him. He’s supposed to be putting on a presentation about the moon stone.”

“Museum?” Matt asked.

“Yes. When you leave this center turn to your left and keep going until you reach Market Street, then turn north. It’ll take you to the top of the hill you can see behind here. The museum is at the far end of the road! It’s really worth your time to go, not only if you’re going to challenge Brock, but also if you’re interested in space!”

“Space? Like outer sp-space?”

“The very same!” said the nurse, putting Matt’s poké balls onto a cart. A large pink pokémon in the shape of an egg appeared from the side of the nurse to help with the cart. Just seeing the chansey brought a little warmth to his heart, and it reminded him of something he had heard about them before. The rare and elusive pokémon were said to bring happiness to whoever managed to catch one. He thought that was true from what he felt from simply seeing one.

“D-do you mind if I take a picture of your chansey?” he asked.

“Is that a Pokédex?” asked the nurse.

“Y-yes. How did you know?” Matt didn’t think Professor Oak had given them out to anyone but Kayne and him. And as far as he knew Kayne hadn’t come to Pewter.

“Oh, Agatha was talking about them last time she was through here to monitor how Brock was doing. They were some sort of invention of that Professor Oak of Pallet Town. Used to collect data on pokémon, right? If that’s the case, go right ahead and add chansey!”

Matt took a picture and entered what he knew about the egg pokémon into the device. After he was finished the nurse and chansey disappeared into a room at the far back of the center.

Now without his partners and with nothing else to do but sit and wait, he decided that a visit to this museum might be a good idea. It would give him a chance to meet Brock before their battle, even though he would rather them not meet at all and just command their partners to attack each other. Following the nurse’s instructions, he left the center and headed for the Market Street of Pewter, finding it rather easily thanks to the many signs that hung from the stone-gray shops. None of the shops interested him, however. He had no use for miniature clothing to dress his partners in, or plush toys, and especially repellant. The only thing that looked like he would ever use was the Poké Mart that sold things like empty balls for capturing and medicines.

Just as the nurse had said, Matt found a large and modern looking building at the end of the street. It was gray like the rest of the town, but on top of its shining steel roof was what looked like a replica of an old rocket that could have been sent into space. Matt cautiously walked through the automatic doors and found himself at the back of a line. Ahead of him was someone taking money, presumably to be let inside. He thought about turning around and heading back to the Center to just wait out his partners’ healing, but was blocked by a family that had come up behind him joining the queue. Matt had no choice but to go into the museum now.

After paying ¥50 to a man standing behind the ticket counter, Matt entered the main hall of the museum. He looked up at the high ceiling to see more spacecrafts. Rockets, satellites, and return capsules hung down from thick cables. At the far back of the museum, he could see a large black and white space shuttle. Beside the shuttle he saw that a large group of people were huddled around a rather simple looking rocket, but when he approached he found that it was a person they were actually there for.

“Twentieth of July, 1969. People all around the world had bought televisions just to watch it. Several American astronauts landed on the moon using this very rocket!” said a young man with a slightly dark complexion and earthy brown hair. He was clearly very excited about whatever he was presenting to his audience judging by the big grin on his face. “It was a momentous occasion for the Earth! Humans walking where once we never thought it possible!”

“Did the astro-guys see any clefairies on the moon?” a little girl asked the presenter, standing just behind her father’s leg.

The presenter’s smile faltered for a moment. “No, or not that we know of. If they did see any they would’ve never told anyone! Who would believe them? Not only would it seem crazy that there’s life on the moon, but most of the world isn’t even aware of the existence of pokémon after all. But anyway, we aren’t actually one-hundred percent certain clefairy or any pokémon come from the moon. The only reason people believe that rumor is because clefairy first appeared after Mt. Moon was hit with that meteor several centuries back!” said the presenter.

“You mean the moon stone, Brock?” asked a little old lady.

“Well, a big moon stone I suppose. Most of the stones we find around here now are small enough to fit in your hand. The one that’s said to have landed near here was about the size of a snorlax,” said Brock.

“So you don’t believe that clefairies are actually aliens, then?” asked the little girl’s father.

Brock sighed. “I’m not an expert. All I can say for sure is that moon stones certainly came from space, and then people saw clefairies for the first time. If you want to make that connection, you won’t be the only one.” The crowd began to murmur, and when they realized that was all Brock was going to say, dispersed and went to look at other displays.

Brock, looking defeated as if he expected more people to care about an old spaceship than an alien, left the rocket and walked to the far side of the museum. Matt followed behind him to find him looking at a tall glass display case. Inside was a large skeleton of some pokémon that Matt had never seen before. It had sharp, scythe-like arms like a scyther, but its head was wide and flat. The gym leader noticed Matt in the reflection of the case and turned.

“Here to admire these old stone bones, or did you come to learn more about space aliens?” Brock asked.

“Wh-what? No, I’m here looking f-for the gym leader. You’re Brock, r-right?”

“Gym leader? Are you a Pokémon League challenger then?” Brock looked Matt up and down and then smiled. “Yes, I suppose you are. Well, I wasn’t expecting a challenge today, if that’s what you’re after. But since I don’t have anything scheduled, I think I can set something up. What tier are you?”

“I’m only a Tier 1, s-sir?”

“Sir? Haha, you don’t need to call me that. But you’ve no badges, yet you’ve chosen my gym to be your first? Well, it’s been a while since I’ve used my Tier 1 team. They’ll be delighted to be put out on the battlefield!”

“You’re going to b-battle me, then? When?”

“Right now works for me. Seems the people here don’t care to learn about the wonderful stones you can find in this area. I’ll head on over to the gym!”

“C-can you wait for a bit? My p-partners are at the Pokémon Center right now. The nurse said it should only b-be a few hours,” said Matt.

“A few hours? Yes, that should be fine. I’ll go and get everything ready then! I look forward to our battle… er… what was your name?” asked the gym leader.

“M-Matthew Red from Pallet Town.”

“Pallet Town? I don’t think anyone from Pallet Town has challenged me since I became a gym leader! It’ll be interesting to see the battling style of someone on the southern coast!” Brock left Matt to get ready, and Matt hurried out of the museum to check on his pokémon. The time was nearly here, the moment he would have his first real challenge in the Pokémon League.


	7. The Rock-Solid Pokemon Trainer

“Here you are! Bulbasaur and Rattata are fighting fit! Take care now!” the nurse said, passing Matt a tray with his two poké balls sitting atop it. He put them in his pockets and looked back out the door of the center. 

The sky outside was a dark but gentle blue, but inside he felt a cold anxiousness. He straightened his shoulders, puffed out his chest, and charged out of the Pokémon Center rushing to and then up Market Street. But instead of heading straight to the museum, he took a fork to the left. An archway curved over the beginning of the fork displaying a sign that read “Official Pokémon League Pewter City Gym, home of the rock-solid Pokémon Trainer!”

The fork took him up a steep hill that overlooked the Pokémon Center. Atop it, he found himself at the entrance of a shining silver building covered in dozens of street lamps that illuminated it like a brilliant diamond. Brock was standing just outside of the door. His face lit up when he saw Matt and beckoned him into the gym. “Are you ready, Pallet Town?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah!” Matt steeled himself, forcing his mind to focus on what was about to happen. Kayne probably had his first badge by now, and he refused to let himself be left behind. He would never hear the end of it if Kayne got too far ahead of him, and he just couldn’t bear the thought of the mockery he’d receive.

“Alright! Let’s head in!” Brock led Matt into the gym.

The lobby seemed normal enough to Matt; a sterile, white-tiled room with plastic chairs and tables scattered around. A man dressed in an official-looking suit sat at one of the tables, looking out of place in such an unprofessional position. He looked up from the newspaper he was reading as Brock and Matt entered the gym. “Ah! This is the challenger you were talking about, Brock?”

“Sure is, Jim. Matthew from Pallet Town. A Tier 1 trainer!”

“Tier 1, eh?” said Jim. “Well then, welcome to the Pokémon League, Matthew!”

“Th-thank you,” said Matt, trying to keep eye contact.

“Normally I have someone to do this for me, but can you show me your license, Matt? I just need to make sure everything’s official,” Jim asked. Matt pulled the trainer card Professor Oak had given him from his pocket and handed it to Jim. After the man had looked it over thoroughly he handed it back to Matt and nodded at Brock. “He’s good to go! Matt, since you’re a Tier 1 I’ll give you a little advice. Brock here is a user of rock-types, which tend to be very defensive creatures that most other types struggle against. If you want to win, I suggest using water, fighting, and grass-types! Good luck!”

Jim left the gym and Brock led Matt out of the lobby and through a heavy iron door to the battlefield. The stadium was lined by row after row of bleachers, empty now but Matt felt sick thinking about what they would be like full. If he ever reached the higher tiers would people come to see his battles? Would he have to deal with a full stadium?

The battlefield was the opposite of the lobby. Where the lobby had been white, clean, and uniform looking, the field was a large rectangle of dirt with a few boulders and rocks lying here and there. A circle was drawn in chalk in the center of the field, bisected by a line that divided the challenger’s side from the leader’s. Brock took his place at the far end, and Matt instinctively took the opposite side.

“Alright, Pallet Town. Since you challenged me, I get to make the rules. There will be no time limit, and you can use as many pokémon as you like while I will use only two. Both trainers can switch out at any time. Once one of us is out of usable pokémon, the other will be declared the winner. Challenger Matthew, send out your first pokémon!”

Matthew pulled both of his partners out of his pocket and looked at each one. Jim said that Brock used rock-type and that a grass-type like Bulbasaur was strong against them. Should he start out with Bulbasaur? If it got tired out before the end of the battle he would have to switch to Rattata, and as far as he knew normal-type attacks would do next to nothing against rocks.

“Go Bulbasaur!” The blue-green toad-like creature appeared in front of Matt in a flash of light. Bulbasaur glanced around, first to Matt, then to Brock, and then around at its surroundings. It seemed to understand that it was on a battlefield and readied itself for battle.

“A grass-type? Very smart! Well, go Geodude!” Brock shouted and tossed one of his poké balls into the air. On the ground in front of him appeared what looked like a slightly-spherical rock about the size of a cantaloupe. A grim and determined face peered from the rock at Bulbasaur, and two sturdy and muscular arms flexed and readied themselves for battle. Matt quickly took a picture of it with his Pokédex before Brock could call out his first attack.

“Geodude, use defense curl!” Brock commanded and the rock-type wrapped its arms across its face and glowed with a dull gray light.

_ Rocks are weak to grass. Well, the only grass move Bulbasaur knows is _ … “Bulbasaur, use leech seed!”

“Fuuuu!” the grass-type cried out and launched the pebble-like seed from its back. The geodude became entangled in mistletoe which instantly sapped some of its health.

“Nice start! Geodude, use tackle!” The living rock launched itself at Bulbasaur, striking it on the head. Bulbasaur shook its head and winced. The attack had apparently done a good amount of damage to the grass-type.

“B-Bulbasaur! U-use your tackle too!” Matt commanded, but when Bulbasaur made contact with the geodude it looked to have done much less damage than the rock-type’s attack. In fact, it seemed to have done virtually nothing at all.  _ I was right. Normal attacks won’t do anything against rocks! _

“Tell me you’ve got more than that, Pallet! Tackle again!” Brock shouted.

“Dodge it, Bulbasaur!” Matt called. The geodude’s attack had done too much damage to let Bulbasaur continue to be hit. But Bulbasaur wasn’t quick enough and suffered another heavy blow. Leech seed sending some of the rock-type’s health to Bulbasaur helped, but it wasn’t going to win the battle.

_ I can’t win this. Bulbasaur can barely touch it! The only thing that seems to be working is leech seed, but Bulbasaur is already nearly worn out!  _ “Come back!” Matt said, holding up the poké ball and pulling Bulbasaur back inside. “Rattata, go!”

The normal-type appeared on the field, but unlike Bulbasaur did not seem to know or care where it was. It sat back on its rear and looked around at the stadium, completely disinterested with what was going on.

“Ah, got a trick up your sleeve with your rattata? Well, tackle!” called Brock and the geodude launched itself at its new opponent.

“Quick attack!” Before the geodude could fly more than halfway to its target, Rattata heeded its master’s command and slammed into Geodude at an incredible speed. This time it was the geodude that winced, and after some of its energy was sent to Rattata Matt could finally see it weakening.

“That was clever, but if all you’re going to use now is tackle and quick attack you’ll never break through my defenses! Defense curl!” Again the rock-type began to faintly glow as it wrapped its arms around its stony body. Judging by the name alone Matt knew that it had made Rattata’s normal-type attacks even less useful.

_ What do I do? What can I do? _ Rattata was doing great for its first battle, especially against something as sturdy as a geodude, but it wasn’t enough. Now that the rock-type was even tougher though, Matt didn’t see a way he could win.  _ Should I just quit? _

Rattata glanced back at Matt with what he guessed was a questioning look, seemingly anxious to get back into the battle. The pokémon knew nothing about its new trainer, being caught only earlier in the day, so had no way of knowing what Matt could be thinking. But Matt could tell from just looking at it that the normal-type didn’t want to quit. “Ko ko!” it cried.

“If you aren’t going to attack, then I’ll make my move!” shouted Brock. “Geodude, use tackle!”

“Right! Rattata, use quick attack one more time!” The normal-type rocketed off towards the geodude before Matt had even finished his command. The two pokémon collided midair, sending out a stunning shockwave that nearly knocked both trainers off their feet. Rattata landed on its feet on the opposite side of the battlefield with a triumphant thud, while the geodude landed upside down just in front of Matthew.

“Geodude!” cried Brock, but his partner did not stir. “Well, Geodude may have raised its defense, but a hit like that completely ignored it! Return, Geodude!” The rock-type was called back into its ball after turning into a red light. Rattata, panting, turned to Matt with a happy glint in its eye. “I’ve never had one of my rock-types lose to a rattata. Good job! But you won’t win against my next pokémon!” He pulled a blue-topped poké ball with red stripes from his pocket and threw it onto the battlefield.

An explosion of light covered Brock’s half of the field. Sparks fell to the ground like rain, surrounding a large gray creature that had appeared. It was like a snake if a snake was separated into barely connected spherical segments. The many boulders that made up its body rose to lift a monstrous head high above rattata, the menacing spike atop its head nearly scraping the ceiling of the gym. “Waaaaaaark!” it bellowed.

“Onix!” Matt gasped, quickly snapping a picture of the rock snake with the Pokédex. He knew that the boulders of the pokémon’s body grew harder as it aged, eventually becoming as strong as diamonds. How old was this onix?

“That’s right. Onix, use bide!” Brock commanded, and after a grunt, the massive rock-type lowered its head to the ground and… did nothing.

_ What’s it doing? Is it preparing an attack? _ “O-Okay! Rattata, use quick attack!” Rattata did as commanded and slammed into the onix at lightning speed. But the rock-type did nothing. It took the hit and didn’t even wince.

“Stay strong, Onix,” said Brock calmly.

_ What’s going on? He isn’t going to attack back? _ “Q-quick attack!” Matt said hesitantly. He couldn’t understand why a pokémon as big and strong as an onix would stay perfectly still in the middle of a gym battle. Again the onix was hit with the quick attack, and again the onix acted as if nothing happened. “B-Brock, what is th-this? What are you d-doing?”

Brock smiled and the onix lifted its head up to the ceiling with a rumbling groan. “Ready Onix? Unleash your energy!” The rock-type let out a deep, low bellow and emitted a ray of blue-white energy from its eyes directly at Matt’s partner. It collided with Rattata and knocked it all the way to the other side of the gym, nearly causing the normal-type to slam into the wall.

“Rattata!” Matt cried and ran after his injured pokémon. When he reached it, he found it completely limp and unconscious. Whatever the bide had done had been too much. “Oh no! I’m so sorry, Rattata,” he said, returning Rattata to its capsule. Matt turned back to Brock and Onix, unsure what else he could do now. Bulbasaur was already injured, and Rattata’s quick attacks had done virtually nothing to the rock-type. “Wh-what was that attack?”

“Bide,” said Brock. “It’s the signature move of my gym. The user allows the opponent to attack twice while it sits patiently, biding its time. It absorbs the damage and after the second attack, sends it back double at the opponent. It usually takes new trainers by surprise, so don’t feel too bad.”

_ It uses my attacks against me? Then I need to be careful. _ “Go Bulbasaur! Use leech seed!” Matt commanded. If Bulbasaur was already weak then it could not survive a hit from onix’s charged bide. Would leech seed factor into bide’s power?

“Smart!” Brock said as he watched his pokémon become covered in vines. “That’s a good way to damage Onix without having to worry about bide! But it won’t save you from the rest of its power! Onix use bide!” The rock-type lowered its head to the ground again and waited for Bulbasaur’s attack.

_ I can’t attack it. I can’t do anything to it. Would growl do anything? No, it’ll just weaken its attack power. It’ll still take too many hits from tackle for Bulbasaur to win. _ But he didn’t have much of a choice. “Tackle!”

But Bulbasaur didn’t use tackle. It didn’t move from the spot it had appeared at when Matt sent it out from its poké ball. “Dan!” it cried, and something flew from the tip of the seed on its back. At first, Matt thought it was another leech seed, but then he noticed that it was a continuous green chord that was heading for the onix’s face. The attack struck onix on the face, and this time it was quite obvious that the rock-type had felt something.

“Iwaaaaaa!” the onix cried and flailed its head about. “Wark waaar!”

“That… that’s not good! Onix, hold on!” Brock cried, and the onix returned its body to the static state of bide.

A giant smile grew on Matt’s face. He knew what Bulbasaur had just done. The onix was now panting heavily, greatly damaged from the super-effective attack. But would another be enough to finish the rock snake? If not, Bulbasaur would be obliterated by the unleashed bide. He had no choice but to try. “Vine whip!”  
“Fuuu shiiii giiiii!” Bulbasaur cried as it launched the long tendril from its seed and struck the onix between its great stony eyes. The deafening crack masked the roar of the rock-type, and was succeeded by a thunderous crash as the onix fell to the ground.

“B-Bulbasaur?” Matt said, looking from his partner to its felled victim. “D-did we?”

“Daaaa!” it smiled bashfully.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Brock said, pulling the onix back into the blue and red poké ball. “I’ve lost both of my pokémon! That makes you the winner!” The gym leader made his way across the gym floor to Matt and bent down to Bulbasaur. “That was quite a surprise,” he said and patted the grass-type on the head and then continued on to Matt. Brock held out his hand palm up, revealing a small gray stone. “Congratulations. This is for you!”

“Winner? I’m… What is this?”

“This is the Boulder Badge, an official Pokémon League entrance badge. You’ve earned it!”

Matt took the badge from Brock and stared at it for a moment, then took off his hat and pinned it on the bill like he had seen trainers do on television. “A badge. My first badge…”

“And take this too,” the gym leader said, handing Matt a clear, square case. Inside Matt could see what looked like a CD, those discs that held computer programs that had become so popular lately. “This is a technical move, or TM. They’re used to teach new moves to your partners. Pokémon Centers often have what are called technical machines that you can use these discs with to pass the information onto your pokémon. This one happens to teach bide.”

“Your signature move?” Matt said, staring down at the disc. The attack had been so devastating to him, could he use it as effectively?

“Well, congratulations again, Pallet Town,” Brock said and shook Matt’s hand. “Before you challenge your next gym, you really need to catch some more pokémon! I would suggest visiting Mt. Moon at the end of Route 3. That’s where I catch the majority of my rock-types, and would be a great benefit to you!”

“Mt. Moon? Okay! Thank you, Brock! Thank you for giving me my first badge and… and showing me that I can actually win in the League!”

“You shouldn’t thank me for that. Thank your pokémon!”

And Matt did. After healing up his partners at the Center he spent the next day relaxing in Pewter City, giving his partners all sorts of treats and care. Because it was only due to their determination to win the battle when Matt would have given up that he had been victorious. It was his pokémon that were going to carry him on this journey. It was his pokémon that he would need to rely on.


	8. The Golden Poké Ball

After his first major victory on his Pokémon League journey, Matthew rested a few days in Pewter City before continuing on. With the excitement of earning his new Boulder Badge, and the idea that he might not be a total failure when it came to pokémon training, he felt that his partners needed the relaxation as much as he did. But eventually, he knew, he would have to leave Pewter and continue this challenge his mother had forced him into.

As far as he could tell from all that he gathered around the Pokémon Center, the nearest town with an official gym was a place called Cerulean. It would take him several days to get there, as he would need to travel the extensive Routes 3 and 4. And not to mention making his way through Mt. Moon.

Matt had heard legends about the caves under the mountain, just as everyone else in the region had. But as he looked up at the ten foot arch that was the entrance to the tunnel system, all courage left him. It was like a deepening void, an all consuming pit that he would never return from.

Two days it had taken him to get here. And though it had not been as terrifying as the forest, Matt still wasn’t sure he liked the idea of camping outside. The open grassy fields were perhaps even worse than the secluded little nooks one could find in heavily wooded areas. But the route did not feel dangerous at the very least, and he had dealt with it.

So far the worst he had to deal with was a few trainers that had challenged him to battles, but Bulbasaur and Rattata had no issues dealing with their pokémon. It seemed that the majority of people in the area only had things like pidgey, rattata, and the bugs that were common in Viridian Forest.

Wringing his hands at the sight of the dark aperture, Matt turned around and ran back into the Pokémon Center located on the northern end of Route 3. He had spent the entire day in the center, too afraid to make the plunge into the caves. This was his third time returning. Fire filled his face and he attempted to hide his embarrassment by covering his cheeks with the collar of his vest. But it seemed that only one person in the hospital was paying any attention to him.

Sitting alone at a table in the left corner of the lobby was a man that, apart from obscuring his face, would have looked rather ordinary to Matthew. Matt, after all, knew what it was like to want to hide himself away from the world. But the way this man was staring at him so intently, the boy knew that he was hiding his face for a totally different reason. What that reason was, he did not know. Perhaps he had heard about his gym battle? Maybe he thought he recognized Matt behind the upturned collar?

No matter the reason, Matt did not want to speak to the man and so walked to the other side of the center. There were a few other people at this part of the lobby, mostly children about his age. But they had ignored him well enough the past few times he had sat with them. He sat down at the far end of a long lunch table and folded his arms across his chest. His legs were just shy of long enough to reach the ground, and so when the tears began trying to force their way out of his eyes, he tried to distract himself by kicking at the air.

He was so afraid to do anything. Why was he this way? As a child Kayne and Matt would explore all around Pallet Town. Several times they had even tried to go out on Route 1 to play with the wild pokémon before inevitably being caught and dragged back by an adult. But even that had been scary now, and he had a partner of his own with him!

His ears unintentionally picked up on the conversation of some of the other children, and after a flash of white light they had his full attention. A girl with long brown hair had sent out a small, blue-purple rabbit-like creature and was now petting it. Matt noticed that she was being ever-so-careful of the small horn-like protrusions on the creature’s body, something he knew to be a smart choice.

Slowly, Matt pulled the Pokédex from his pack and inconspicuously took a snapshot of the poison-type. He cited that, although small, the venomous barbs that lined nidoran’s body were very dangerous. Even so, he had the strong urge to pet the nidoran himself, though didn’t dare ask the girl for permission.

“Oh, a female!” said another one of the kids. This one was a boy wearing a simple t-shirt, shorts, and a ball cap. He looked to be one of the short pants fanatics he had met along Route 3, but couldn’t be sure. “She should meet mine!”

The boy opened a poké ball, releasing a second flash of light. Another poison pin-covered pokémon appeared on the ground. This one was a violet-red, and the spikes that covered its body were much more pronounced. Matt noted in the Dex that it stiffened its ears to listen for danger and h;ad larger horns than its female counterpart.

Matt smiled at the two poison-types, wishing that he could lay down on the floor and play with them like he had been doing with his own two partners the past few days. But it was good enough that he had added two new entries to Oak’s index, something he felt he was doing a poor job on. Kayne had probably seen at least thirty different pokémon by now, and Matt has barely seen more than ten.

The other children showed off their partners, all species that Matt had already seen and added for Oak’s task. Within the hour they were finished chatting and relaxing, and left the center, still not acknowledging that Matthew was there. A tinge of regret lingered as the last boy walked away. Not because Matt wanted to talk to him, but because he thought it would have been nice to let his own partners play with the stranger’s. But it was too late now.

“Hello there, kiddo,” said a deep yet hushed voice. Matt turned to see the odd man from the other side of the center now sitting beside him. “That device you have there, what was it? A camera?”

“A c-camera?” said Matt. It was a camera in a way, but also other things. “It’s a… a thing for a r-r-researcher. S-someone that l-looks into p-p-p-”

“Pokémon? Nice. Very interesting. Are you a fan of pokémon, I wonder? A trainer, perhaps?” asked the man. He reached into a pocket of the long, black trench coat he was wearing and pulled out something a shimmering metallic gold. “Yes, of course you are! I am too, you know. But a special kind of trainer. I train up pokémon for other trainers. It’s a sort of business, you see. And what I have here, well, it might just be my best work yet!”

“You t-train for others? Th-that’s very n-nice of you,” Matt said, and the man’s head jerked strangely. Instinctively Matt stood up quickly, slamming his knee into the table. But he ignored the pain. Something was telling him to get away from this man. “I n-need t-to get going though! W-wanna get h-hom before dark,” he lied.

“It’s already dark out, isn’t it? Where do you live? You’ve spent the entire day here on your own. Don’t tell me you walked all the way out to this hospital in the middle of nowhere for that! Come on, you’re here for the pokémon, aren’t you? Yes, yes. Hey, how about we go outside. I can show you something real nice! A real nice pokémon.” The man flashed the golden object, and now Matt could clearly see that it was a poké ball.

Matt nearly slammed his palm into his face. Of course that was what this man meant. He was a pokémon salesman! “Oh! A n-nice pokémon? S-sure! I’ll see it!” If this man was trying to sell Matt a new partner, a new friend, why should he say no? There was nothing wrong or scary about a salesman after all.

When they left the center, Matt found that the sun had indeed already gone down. He must have been watching the other trainers for several hours and not realized it. But the lights around the building were enough that he could see the man lead him around the back to a medium sized pond, likely belonging to the center to treat and hold water-types.

“Alright, kid! You’re gonna love this, I swear! It’ll only cost you ¥500. With this, you’ll be a master in no time! Yes, a bona fide master!” Matt’s heart began to race. Just what could this thing be, this creature powerful enough to make him a master trainer? Was there really such a pokémon?

The man pressed the button at the center of the golden ball and a light erupted from it, sending a shower of sparks onto the edge of the pond. What appeared was nothing like anything Matthew Red could have expected. Splashing about in the pool’s shallows was an orange-red fish with long golden whiskers. Despite being in water, the creature seemed to be struggling to breath, or move, or do anything other than flop about. Matt’s heart sank.

“Here it is! The ultimate addition to any team! What ya say, kid? More than worth that ¥500, eh? Or if you couldn’t afford it, we could make a deal another way.” asked the man, smirking at Matt as he stepped down on the floundering fish in some attempt to mask the creature’s futile attempt to survive. Matt’s sunken heart suddenly lifted. But not in excitement or hope. Seeing this pathetic creature being crushed and suffering filled him with an anger he had not felt since the incident with Kayne so long ago.

Matt pulled out his Pokédex and began to enter the creature into it, making sure to speak aloud what he was typing. “Magikarp, the Fish Pokémon. F-famous for being very unreliable. It c-can be found swimming in lakes, rivers, and shallow puddles.”

“What?”

“Y-you can’t trick me! Th-that’s a magikarp! I’m not paying for it, b-but you better get off! You’re hurting it!” Matt cried, lunging at the man’s legs. The man stumbled back and the magikarp was able to flop further into the pond.

“Why you little—”

“You, over there!” cried a voice from behind Matt. He turned around to see a woman dressed in a fine blue uniform rushing over to him. “I knew it! I knew what you were up to the moment I laid eyes on you!” Matt’s attention returned to the man who was now attempting to pull himself up off the ground. His trenchcoat has slipped off his body, revealing a deep black uniform. A red letter “R” was embroidered on the chest, and about his waist were several more golden poké balls. “Rocket!”

“The police? You called the police, kid?” the man cried, now scrambling across the ground. “I thought you were cooler than that!”

“Wh-what? I—”

The man began running off, dodging past the police officer and moving in the direction of the cave. Matt looked on, stunned at shaking at what he had just done. He had  _ attacked  _ someone. Yes, the man had been stepping on the magikarp, but did that mean he needed to physically shove him?

“Kid! What are you doing?” the police officer said, reaching Matt.

“I— I j-just… I didn’t m-mean to! He j-just was h-hurting!”

“Yes, yes! I saw!” she said, bending down slightly and putting a hand on Matt’s shoulder. The boy recoiled, but only for a moment. “That was a very bad man. Did you see what he was wearing?”

“Y-yes,” said Matt. “He had a r-red letter, I think.”

“That’s the insignia of a notorious gang we’ve been having trouble with lately. You’ve heard of the Rockets, right?”

Matthew didn’t answer, instead he looked back into the pond and the fish pokémon that was still flopping about. It seemed to be doing better than before, but Matt’s heart still felt for it. “Magikarp…”

“We’ll take care of the pokémon, don’t you worry!” the officer said. “You were very brave there… what was your name?”

“M-Matthew. Matthew Red.”

“Okay, Matthew. Are you a pokémon trainer?”

“I am,” answered Matt, turning his attention back to the woman in front of him. “He was going to give me magikarp.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Matthew. The Rockets don’t usually give out pokémon. They  _ steal  _ them.”

Matt clenched his fists.

“St-steal? They steal people’s partners, their friends?” he asked and the police officer nodded. Matt felt the same rush he had felt before when he had shoved the man. “Why? Why would someone do that! If I lost Bulbasaur and Rattata, I’d… I’d…”

And Matthew bolted off, leaving the officer behind to call his name. Matthew Red entered the cave that he had been so afraid. But that fear was now replaced by something he could not describe. It was more than anger. It was a need. A need to help or stop or do something. He  _ would  _ do something.


End file.
